The 2011 Winter Classic is sure to be a huge spectacle in Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day with the Penguins and Sidney Crosby taking on the Capitals and Alex Ovechkin, the day before is shaping up to be a spectacle all its own.

On December 31st the Penguins and Capitals will have a game between respective members of their alumni. If you think that this sounds like a great idea given some of the stars in the Penguins and Caps history, you’d be 100% right. The Penguins are sparing no expense in trying to ice one of the best alumni teams ever assembled.

Mario Lemieux will be joined by fellow Hall of Famers Paul Coffey, Ron Francis and Bryan Trottier and “youngster” Bill Guerin as the Pittsburgh Penguins Alumni team takes on the Washington Capitals Alumni Dec. 31 at Heinz Field as part of the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic weekend.

Uh… Wow. Full rosters for both teams will be available in the near future but for now we’ve got this to get us excited.

Getting Lemieux and Francis out there is impressive in its own right but adding Coffey and Trottier, both who made their name with different dynasties in the 80s (Coffey with Edmonton and Trottier with the Islanders) it’s an incredible assembly of hall of fame talent. Bill Guerin getting to suit up as an alumni so soon after retiring from the NHL makes for a nice perk. Let’s just go ahead and say he’ll probably be the guy doing the bulk of the scoring.

If you’re wondering who the Caps will throw out there against this insane crew, all that is known as of now is 80s and 90s great Peter Bondra. As for who else we’d like to see out there from both teams, our lists are huge. Right off the top of our head though we’re hoping that the goalies facing off against each other are Tom Barrasso for Pittsburgh and Olaf Kolzig for Washington.

We’d also really enjoy seeing tough guys Ulf Samuelsson and Dale Hunter get out there and throw down for old time sake, but getting Samuelsson away from the Coyotes bench where he’s an assistant coach might be tough. Perhaps ESPN analyst Matthew Barnaby can get the call in his place.

This is one moment where we’re really upset that Jaromir Jagr is playing in the KHL as having him able to suit up for both teams to get booed by their fans would be hilariously entertaining all on its own. Of course, the thought of getting Lemieux and Jagr together one more time, even in an old timers game setting like this, would be amazing.